xxviii. Prdteedings of the Society. 



» Such, or nearly so, are in brief the opinions emitted, at 

 least publicly, on the cause of the malady aod on the means of 

 ixtenuating its effects, or of pieventing its return ; opinions 

 which even those who gave them out were obliged to abandon, 

 and which neither met with any echo in the Island, nor were 

 found to ha»e any identity with those published in the news- 

 papers or scientific works from England or France, which we 

 have had an opportunity of perusing. 



1 But one of our colleagues basset forth, in a theory which Tie 

 has laid before the Council of the Society, a series of ideas which 

 seem conformable to the truth, or to come near it ; as mach so, 

 at least, as is possible in the actual state of our knowledge. 

 Fur you know that, in every science open to investigation, 

 I something always remains which, for the present, is beyond 

 » our reach, and which may for ever remain so. t. 



1 Tbe author of this Theory, laying aside all consideration 

 wheiht^r tbe cause of the disease resides in tbe cane itself, or in 

 the action of a soil either too poor or too rich, is of opinion 

 that the disease has appeared under the influence of certain 

 atmospherical conditions, that>it is the effect of an accidental 

 aaodification in the state of the weather, and must disappear at 

 tbe moment when tbe combination of atmospherical causes 

 which produced it, ceases. 



y This Theory has been the subject of an article published 

 in the second pari of the « Transactions of the Sotiety, * under 

 the title of < Phenomenon manifested in the Sugar tane. * We can 

 therefore repeat the explanation which the Author gives of the 

 cause of the disease in his own words, al am of opinion, be 

 « says, that this phenomenon must be attributed to the forma- 

 » lion of a notable portion of nitric acid produced by the electric 

 > fluid, which met in its passage with ammoniacal gas disen- 

 » gaged from the soil so rich in azotized matter ; an acid which, 

 I in a fitting proportion, is advantageous to the growth of 

 » plants, but the excess of which becomes highly injurious. • 



» This important article was reprinted in some London 



